Defined as ‘a particular portion of space’,1 place is paradoxically a fluid concept with equally indeterminate boundaries. Contained within its ‘portion of space’ are multiple layers and hidden depths that belie the apparent simplicity of its definition. It is more than merely space, yet less than a concrete zone; it is a feeling, a gesture, a word, an intangible something that cannot be reduced to the material. Indeed, it is ‘when space feels thoroughly familiar to us, [that] it has become place’.2 More often sensed than understood, place has no fixed identity, allowing for an exploration of any number of related concepts and contradictory interpretations, which renders it an attractive notion to an artist. Inescapably, to make art is to make a place.3
It is this notion of place that is integral to the deeply affecting quality of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photography. The recent exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery of over two hundred and sixty of his photographs, selected by Cartier-Bresson in 2003,4 showcased his talent for capturing that ‘decisive moment5 in time; for creating a frozen still of an emotional truth. The sense of being a quiet observer of reality is maintained throughout his oeuvre, as the photographs he produced are faithful to the ‘essence’ of the place that he focused on (pun intended), whether that be cultural, as in his travel photography, or personal, as in his portraiture. There is no sense of judgment or falsity in Cartier-Bresson’s photography, which allows for the lyricism of his photographs to take precedence. A poetic understanding flows from his ‘sense of geometry’,6 his sensitivity to emotional nuance and his instinct for framing a... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline